Kumba Iron Ore Limited production and sales report for the third quarter ended 30 September 2018
23 October, 2018
Kumba continued to improve on safety and delivered a solid operating performance, while maintaining production and sales volumes in line with guidance. Throughout this report, production and sales volumes referred to are 100% of Sishen Iron Ore Company Proprietary Limited (“SIOC”), and attributable to shareholders of Kumba as well as the non-controlling interests in SIOC.
Overview:
- Safe production ensured Kumba remained fatality free and continued to improve on multiple safety metrics.
- Production volumes reduced by 9% to 10.5Mt as planned, to offset elevated stock levels arising from rail constraints in H1 2018.
- Export sales decreased by 10% to 9.7Mt as a result of scheduled refurbishment by Transnet.
| Production summary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ' 000 tonnes | Quarter ended | ||||
| Q3 2018 | Q3 2017 | % change vs Q3 2017 |
Quarter ended Q2 2018 |
% change vs Q2 2018 |
|
| Total | 10,508 | 11,486 | (9) | 11,572 | (9) |
| - Sishen mine | 7,030 | 7,786 | (10) | 7,930 | (11) |
| - Kolomela mine | 3,478 | 3,700 | (6) | 3,642 | (5) |
| Sales summary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ' 000 tonnes | Quarter ended | ||||
| Q3 2018 | Q3 2017 | % change vs Q3 2017 |
Quarter ended Q2 2018 |
% change vs Q2 2018 |
|
| Total | 10,492 | 11,427 | (8) | 10,342 | 1 |
| - Export sales | 9,737 | 10,783 | (10) | 9,560 | 2 |
| - Domestic sales | 755 | 644 | 17 | 782 | (3) |
Total production volumes decreased by 9% to 10.5Mt (Q3 2017: 11.5Mt) as planned, to offset elevated stock levels at Sishen and Kolomela arising from Transnet rail constraints in H1 2018. Production volumes were also impacted by the slight decrease in processing plant yields as Kumba focused on producing high quality products to maximise the value of tonnes railed to port and benefit from the strong demand for high-grade ore.
Production at Sishen and Kolomela reduced by 10% to 7Mt (Q3 2017: 7.8Mt) and 6% to 3.5Mt (Q3 2017: 3.7Mt), respectively. Waste stripping at Sishen increased by 7% to 45Mt (Q3 2017: 42Mt) and remained flat at Kolomela (Q3 2017: 16Mt), as we continued our progress towards benchmark efficiency.
Export sales decreased by 10% to 9.7Mt (Q3 2017: 11.4Mt) due to the scheduled refurbishment of the ship loaders at Saldanha which resulted in single loading of vessels during the quarter. Total finished stock increased to 6.6Mt from 6.2Mt at 30 June 2018.
Guidance
Kumba continued to work closely with Transnet to improve logistical performance and good progress has been made during the quarter. As a result, the 2018 full year guidance announced in Kumba's 2018 interim results on 24 July 2018 has been maintained as follows:
- Total production of 43-44Mt
- Sishen 29-30Mt
- Kolomela 14Mt
- Waste
- Sishen 170-180Mt
- Kolomela 55-57Mt
- Total sales of 42-44Mt